My puter is stuck in low range?

[Random guy]

Ok you IT guys, my new Compact/hp laptop is just crawling along at a snails pace. I have webroot spysweeper, McAfree anti-virus. It seems like I got a bug or something that is chewing up space? I have little or no computer skills so I have done nothing to fix this other then run the sweeps, anti virus and clear out cookies, history, and any unwanted junk.

Is there a program or something I can do without having the company IT guys not only charge their fun fee but pick on me for a month for being S T U P I D.

[PierBridge]

Hard to say without looking at it.

Is the internet slow or is the entire Computer slow?

Do you have the recovery disk that came with the computer? You could back up your important info and reinstall the computer back to the factory defaults, it's pretty easy......

Anyway it sounds like maybe Crapafee I mean McAfee is bogging you down try disabling the antivirus in the system tray on the bottom right of the computer after rebooting the system.

[Trouthunter]

uhhhh....I'd recommend against disabling the antivirus. Computers just dont break on their own, and they dont just get better on thier own...Kinda like cars

If you are halfway savvy you can try "start->run->msconfig" and tinker around disabling other non-critical services. It will also show you what is configured to auto startup, etc. Look for suspicious programs or try turning off things you dont need/use often to see if it helps (Palm software, printer helper applications, etc.)

[DTro]

close all programs except your browser. Now hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete, click on task manager, click on the applications tab. What programs do you see running?

[broncosguy711]

I would suggest to disable the McAfee upon start up. And once the spysweeper is done running run the McAfee, they are probably competing for the same memory space. My home one did the same thing and that is all I did. Or disable spysweeper and then run after McAfee loads.

Broncs

[Random guy]

When I get home I'm going in! I'll see what programs are chewing up resources...correct?

[DTro]

any luck Jon?

[upnorth]

Make sure that your anti virus and anti spam software is up to date. They need to be updated on a regular basis or they are useless. Do web update for both of them and then do a scan with each and see what they bring up.

Running msconfig and getting rid of all unecessary items at startup. You would be amazed at how much junk feels it should start up that really don't need to.

From what you describe I would suspect a virus or spy ware to be the main culprit.

[Whoaru99]

We have McAfee on our corporate boxes and it really seems to hog up the resources on occasion.

I'm not suggesting you disable it, only that it could be one of the factors.

As others have suggested, get rid of unnecessary start menu items and then do that msconfig thing and go through the stuff on the "startup" tab and see what you can uncheck from startup loading.

[lawdog]

We've dumped McAfee here after several attempts to make the machines run with it on. I don't know much about computers at all, but that is what our tech guy ended up deciding and its worked great. For your personal use, AVG-grisoft offers free virus program that works well from what I can tell.

[Valv]

Toss McAfee and get Norton, much better software.

They've been known to be resource hogs since the begin.

Also check your hard drive space, if it's a small drive and you are running out of room it will bog down system to a crawl.

A good technician should be able to help, problem is..... finding a good tech

Also Jon, if you think you are the only one in this situation.....think again. You will not get any laughing if you take it to your company tech. It is one of the most common problems.

[Random guy]

McAfree gone and the afterburners lit up! Thanks guys. I had a buddy drop the McAfree and installed some other anti virus and it picked off a nasty bug right of the bat that helped even more.

Valv, as far as the IT guys picking on me I still haven't heard the end of it from ripping the screen of my laptop, dumping the coffe on the keyboard or the laptop that I left in the boat then pulled it down the highway through two rain storms. They have threatened to pull my remote/cell acces so my computer stays indoors.

[Valv]

I see it as job security for your IT tech.....

Nothing wrong if you help some fellow co-workers right ?

Besides they should be happy it was coffee and water, try to do it with Coke or MtDew.......

[Random guy]

This thing is flying! When I would go from page to page on the web my McAfree CPU would climb to 60+ percent then slowly go back down. That must have been it?

What in the heck is a CPU?

[PierBridge]

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uhhhh....I'd recommend against disabling the antivirus. Computers just dont break on their own, and they dont just get better on thier own

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I should have been a little more clear not only disable it uninstall it and throw it in the garbage.

Jon what anti virus are you using now?

AVG works great and it's FREE plus it won't hose up your system like we knew CRAPAPHEE was doing to your Puter ....

[Mark Christianson]

Jon

CPU is Computer Performance Unit

[DTro]

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Jon

CPU is Computer Performance Unit

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McAfee might define it as that, but I'm pretty sure the standard definition of CPU is Central Processing Unit, or in other words the brain.

[Mark Christianson]

Dat be correct Dtro.

I am gonna try some of the above changes. I have one puter here at home thats just a dog.

Its newer than the one I am typing on right now, and should scream. No such luck. Yet!

[DTro]

FYI, Microsoft has made IE7 beta available for public download. I just installed it and so far so good. It has some nice new features. The biggest being tabbed browsing! If anyone uses multiple windows while browsing you will appreciate this.

Sorry a bit off topic.....I digress

[Whoaru99]

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We've dumped McAfee here after several attempts to make the machines run with it on. I don't know much about computers at all, but that is what our tech guy ended up deciding and its worked great. For your personal use, AVG-grisoft offers free virus program that works well from what I can tell.

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Yeah, I'd like to, but no can do. All our corporate boxes are automatically inventoried on a regular basis and any changes to the corporate installed security etc. is a MAJOR no-no.

Even the Microsoft website will not allow us to update the computers if we browse there on our own due to a "corporate" lock.

All approved updates, hot fixes, etc. are rolled out VIA the company network when we logon and computer hardware/software inventory by the same manner.

[PierBridge]

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Its newer than the one I am typing on right now, and should scream. No such luck. Yet!

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That's one of the problems with newer PC's they come bogged down with crap software that you don't need and to make things worse they don't give you the XP operating system disk, they give you a recovery disk which of course reloads their junk when you re-install.

The first thing I do or suggest to do is Wipe the Drive and re-install a fresh copy of Windows XP PRO.......

[Whoaru99]

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Its newer than the one I am typing on right now, and should scream. No such luck. Yet!

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That's one of the problems with newer PC's they come bogged down with crap software that you don't need and to make things worse they don't give you the XP operating system disk, they give you a recovery disk which of course reloads their junk when you re-install.

The first thing I do or suggest to do is Wipe the Drive and re-install a fresh copy of Windows XP PRO.......

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This is the best, but unfortunately, many manufacturers really balk or refuse to honor support committments if you do that sort of thing on a new (in warranty) computer. If you are computer-savvy, no big deal, but many users are not so good at it.

[delcecchi]

Why aren't you using Firefox? It's had tabbed browsing and all the other stuff for quite a while. Try it. You might like it.

[PierBridge]

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Why aren't you using Firefox? It's had tabbed browsing and all the other stuff for quite a while. Try it. You might like it.

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I have used Avant browser for years now, I can't imagine not having tabbed browsing.

It's about time for IE.

[Random guy]

It's called Kapersky (s/p?) Works great.

[smmurphy]

Exactly, FIrefox and/or Mozilla is a mutch better browser. more function with less GOO.

[DTro]

Firefox is good, but still has some conflicts/issues with some sites. I have had less issues with IE, now with this new version, you get the best of both worlds.